Semibreve Festival 2013 // The 405 Preview

Semibreve Festival combines inspired, innovative curation with the breath-taking rolling hills of Braga, Portugal as its location. Demonstrating the merits of 'quality over quantity', Semibreve has already begun to make waves with its previous line-ups, having booked some of the most forward-thinking and exciting electronic musicians such as Jon Hopkins and Ben Frost.

We're drowning in festivals these days, and I'm not simply referring to the terrible weather that often defines UK festival, it seems as though new festivals are popping up like chicken pox. While it might seem as though Semibreve Festival would fall in such a category, the festival stands head and shoulders above the majority of newcomers. Semibreve combines inspired, innovative curation with the breath-taking rolling hills of Braga, Portugal as its location. Demonstrating the merits of 'quality over quantity', Semibreve has already begun to make waves with its previous line-ups, having booked some of the most forward-thinking and exciting electronic musicians such as Jon Hopkins and Ben Frost. The 405 were lucky enough to review the festival in 2011 and 2012.

I'm delighted to say that Semibreve 2013 far from disappoints. As well as offering the similar stunning scenery of Braga and backdrop of the majestic if not unusual Theatre Circo, Semibreve 2013 presents artists including:

The critically-lauded and rarely sighted The Haxan Cloak, whose recent album on Tri-Angle was an outstanding cinematic journey through rich industrial soundscapes.

Tri-Angle label mate, Liverpudlian Forest Swords, who creates an immersive, dark and mysterious world that is as inventive as it is infectious, seeing him receive almost unanimous praise for his recent album Engravings.

Legendary producer German Uwe Schmidt under his alias Atom TM whose music ranges from remarkably inventive, to the all-out bizarre.

Aside from another year of flawless programming, the festival this year also features a series of one-off events, most notably including a free an improvised session of musicians who build their own electronic instruments (Sunday at 3.30pm), a Q&A session with legendary musician Rafael Toral (Saturday at 3.30pm) and a special concert by influential British musician/artist Janek Schaefer called Lay-by Lullaby.